Colorado State football mailbag: Will the Rams make a bowl in Steve Addazio's first season?

Readers sent so many good questions that we've broken the weekly mailbag into two parts.

In this first edition we address all things Steve Addazio and the Colorado State football program.

The second installment of the mailbag addresses basketball, soccer, softball and more.

With this year’s schedule, and Addazio’s history of rebuilding teams in his first year, do we have a better chance of reaching bowl season? (@Capt_Squints)

In Addazio’s first season at Temple, the Owls went from 8-4 to 9-4 and won a bowl game. Boston College made a big jump, going from 2-10 to 7-6 in his first season.

First, a 2020 schedule refresher for those who don’t memorize it. Home games: Colorado, Northern Colorado, Fresno State, New Mexico, Utah State and Wyoming. Road games: Oregon State, Vanderbilt, Air Force, Boise State, San Diego State and UNLV.

I think in the Mountain West the Rams should almost always be able to get to a minimum of six wins and bowl eligible. That should be the baseline of expectations.

UNC, New Mexico and UNLV should be games CSU always expects to win. Utah State and Fresno State at home should be winnable, and at some point the Rams need to win the Bronze Boot back.

Nonconference play will be mighty interesting. Three Power 5’s for a Group of 5 team is super rare and the CU game will set the tone.

My way-too-early prediction is that CSU will be bowl eligible in 2020.

Is this a career builder for Addazio or a job for life (if things work out)? (@ChrisReub)

Addazio is 60-years-old. Say the Rams have three excellent years to start his time in Fort Collins, will Power 5's be knocking down his door? It's not impossible. Mack Brown is 68 and leading a resurgence at North Carolina, but I would say it's unlikely a 63ish-year-old with some success but not a ton would be a hot P5 candidate.

If Addazio struggles and is fired it's more unlikely he would get another head job.

My instinct is CSU will be Addazio's final college head coaching job.

What do you expect to change in recruitment? What are some of the biggest needs in this class? (@philaphuqincray)

You’ll probably see less of an influx of players from SEC territory with this staff. Although if George Helow stays on staff, he’s a big-time recruiter who has had big success in Florida. This staff might do more Midwest recruiting.

Needs in this class are headlined by the two lines and quarterback. CSU needs pass rushers (maybe via transfer) and several offensive linemen. Expect a mix of freshmen and transfers in the trenches.

The Rams also need to land a quarterback in this class after Griffin Brewster de-committed. The last QB to sign with CSU out of high school was Justice McCoy back in the 2017 class. The other additions (K.J. Carta-Samuels, Patrick O’Brien) have been via transfer.

One QB name to keep an eye on is Jackson Muschamp, son of South Carolina coach Will Muschamp (Mike Bobo’s new boss). He was being recruited by Addazio at Boston College and he’s set for an official visit to CSU on Jan. 23, according to Lou Bezjak of The State.

No, no worries about Addazio backing out. I don’t think he’s a big Instagram guy, considering his last post was in July.

This does remind me of something that makes me chuckle — coaches and social media. CSU hasn’t announced any of Addazio’s staff hires, but several of them (Louie Addazio, Joey Lynch and Brian White) have CSU in their Twitter bios. Update: CSU officially announced the hires of Lynch and White on Tuesday.

Then there’s accounts clearly created by staff for coaches. Chuck Heater has defunct Twitter account from his time at Maryland.

It’s funny to watch these. You could usually tell based on tone the tweets, for example Bobo's that were clearly him versus tweets written by CSU staff.

The @LarryEustachy account still says he’s the basketball coach at CSU. Eustachy probably never once opened Twitter and a former assistant ran the account, yet it’s still hanging out in the Twittersphere.

I, for one, have a ton of excitement about the thought of a Joey Lynch-led offense. Assuming some improved play on the offensive line, the offense could actually be pretty scare to opposing teams. Am I thinking clearly or are my pumpkin and alfalfa glasses distorting things? (@Flickerbock)

Both? I like the hire of Lynch and think his offense could be very good with the skill players CSU has available. I’m very interested in seeing how he’ll use someone as versatile and talented as freshman All-American Dante Wright.

But I also think assuming improved offensive line play is brushing that aside too easily. The O-line was decent last year, but also lost three frequent starters in Jeff Taylor (graduation), T.J. Storment (transfer) and Nouredin Nouili (transfer). The Rams need pieces there and more depth.

The good news: Addazio is considered a great O-line teacher.

Overall, I think fans should be pretty excited about the offense. The Rams need that O-line to step up and to find a feature running back.

Could y'all talk a little about how the money for the new TV deal is likely to be spent? (@ChrisReub)

It’s hard to say with certainty where extra money from the new Mountain West TV deal will go for CSU. The Rams will receive roughly triple what they got in the last contract, from $1.1 million a year to more than $3 million a year.

You can count on that at least indirectly help fund the rest of Bobo’s buyout. He’ll will be paid a total of $1.825 million spread out in three annual installments until 2022.

There are a lot of different uses for that money and it's not just limited to athletics — it could go to the general university funds.